VISUAL AIRCRAFT RECOGNITION

Or there were those who were never out of burner having been way to
afraid or smart to slow down -----






"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 15 Apr 2007 12:14:56 -0700, Bill Shatzer
wrote:

Mike wrote:
The F-14, F-15 MiG-29 and Su-27 series all look a LOT alike in
motion
to most people. MiG-21 and the F-4 look virtually identical in
flight.

Nah, the F-4 is the one trailing copious amounts of smoke.

Cheers,

Believe it or not, that was a huge advantage for us in SEA. It was a
quick clue whether or not a bogie was friendly. When you've got
numerical superiority you don't mind being visible and gaining a
little protection from an over-eager shooter.

But, the smoke pretty much went away from the F-4 fleet around 1980 as
I recall. The upgraded combustion section of the J-79 came around the
same time as the wrap-around camo pattern.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 03:23:40 GMT, "Flashnews"
wrote:

Or there were those who were never out of burner having been way to
afraid or smart to slow down -----


Reheat was a good way to kill the smoke signature, but consumption,
even in min burner was way too high to give adequate endurance for the
NVN mission. And, there's always the problem that if you are running
around in reheat the rest of the formation is either way behind or way
ahead. The wingman can't do it consistently and stay with the leader,
the leader can't do it and keep his wingmen.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Back in the 80's our local Air Guard unit had F-4's.

We were in Medford for the 4th of July and they were doing the usual
circuit of small airports that had flyins/airshows on the 4th.

The pair had completed a low pass with gear up and one with gear down.

They were departing to the east and I figured they were headed to
K-Falls and another show.

I was watching the smoke trails and noticed the were curving a bit
north, away from K-Falls.
Then the smoke stopped and I knew they were coming back for one more
pass.
Nudged my late father-in-law and told him to look east. He was an old
crew cheif who had started his naval career pre-Pearl Harbor in PBY's
and had ended his time working on A3D in 1963.
Gave the rest of my family a heads up and as the pair of F-4 glided past
the crowd at 100 AGL and about 600 knots we all had our fingers in our
ears.
They did a nice zoom and disapeared going up.




--
Usenetsaurus n. an early pedantic internet mammal, who survived on a
diet of static text and
cascading "threads."

Right Ed, that's for sure, but you had to stick around there, we were just
poking around at 650 knots and then bugging out - we didn't smoke and we
didn't look back - but for sure the Thud could hang on in MIL pretty much -
and when it opened up to 750 or 800, we were waving bye-bye


"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 03:23:40 GMT, "Flashnews"
wrote:

Or there were those who were never out of burner having been way to
afraid or smart to slow down -----


Reheat was a good way to kill the smoke signature, but consumption,
even in min burner was way too high to give adequate endurance for the
NVN mission. And, there's always the problem that if you are running
around in reheat the rest of the formation is either way behind or way
ahead. The wingman can't do it consistently and stay with the leader,
the leader can't do it and keep his wingmen.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com